News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-11-10
SUPPED WITH THE PRESIDENT.
The Ordeal of a Young College
Student Who Was Trapped in 4
Hen RooSt.
[From the Atlanta Journal I

[From the Atlanta JournaL]
In the early years of this century,
when log houses were good enough for
the average Georgian, certain doctor
presided over Franklin College.
The simple habits of their dignified
sires did not prevent the boys of those
they carried ON an amount of devilment
which the college boys of these times
would not consider respectable.
The boys thought that anything was
fair which would make one of the fac
ulty the victim of joke, and on one
occasion they laid q dark plot to rob the
doctors poultry yard and afterward Gel
citrate the event by q midnight ban
quet.
The doctors chickens were the pride
of his domestic establishment, and ifc
had built for their accommodation log
house. The logs were ''notched down
at the corners and held in place by then
own weight and the roof.
At late hour the boys repaired to
the hen house, armed with a fence rail.
1t was an easy matter to insert the rail
between the two logs and prize up those
above, so as to make an opening through
which man could crawl. A dapper
young fellow, who had visited the doc
tors daughters, went in and began to
pull the chickens off the roost and
wiring their necks. While he did so the
boys outside kept their weight on the
rail, and so kept the crack open for his
escape. The nice young man, whom we
will call Bob, had dropped about doz
en- chickens outside, and the whole
crowd was in high glee over the pros
pective banquet. Just then a big old
rooster crowed.
"Look out, Bob; break the ROSTERS
neck and stop his noise"
Ssh ! What's that"
There was low growl.
"Boys, YOU have let those logs down
too low; lift them little, so can get
out. Be quick about it e.
At this instant there was a loud bark
and big dog bounded into the poultry
yard. The boys on the outside for an
instant stood their ground. They
dropped the rail and grabbed chance
weapons to beat off the dog, but before
they could disable him the door of the
doctors residence opened aad his tall
figure appeared. The boys scattered,
all but one.
The logs had come together again and
Bob was prisoner. He crouched in a
corner and held his breath, hoping that
he wonld be overlooked, but the dog
told where he was.
BY this time the doctor had come up
and other members of the family came
out, eager to see who was caught in the
man trap.
'Why, it's Bob"
"Who would have thought it?" The
were heard in the house
and echoed by the young ladies. Then
the door of the log house was opened
and the young man was sent to the dor
mitOry. He was called before the fac
1lty the next morning. The poor fell
low would have sold himself for a song,
md expected to be Pcremptorily ex-
peIIed and perhaps prosecuted $500,
nafeaFn jpg the id doGsE &a he'd n Thought 9 ra the
sagacity in the management of boys,
md he recognized this freak as n piece
Of wild mischief which might not be
meanness. He resolved to give the
matter such disposition as would put
sober head on the young man. Accord
ingly, when Bob appeared, looking like
a criminal, the doctor lectured him Sc
verely, but in a fatherly way, and told
him that such an offence must not go
without a severe punishment.
Bob expected the sentence of his ex-
pulsion. With measured tones, like a
Judge pronouncing the death sentence,
the doctor said
"Mr.--, [ will expect you to take
supper with me tonight, and, as you
show fondness for chicken, the fowls
you took off the roost last night will be
on the table
Bob would rather have been expelled.
But for the distress it would cause his
parents he would have gone home. In
spite of his larks there was good stuff III
Bob, and with tremendous effort he
resolved to face the music.
It is impossible to describe the mental
agony Bob went through that evening |
when he sat at the table where the doc
tor presided with courtly dignity.
His elegant wife could not have been |
more courteous to an honored guest
Than she was to Bob, and her daughters
5reated the young man as cordially as
ever. Not word was said about the al
'air of the night before, but the large
lish of chicken was like mountain IN
the poor boys eyes. 1t was the refine
ment of torture when the doctor, with
the utmost suavity, helped him to the
choicest pieces.
The situation, which under ordinary
would have been ludi-
,rous, under the doctors composure and
MS wife's tact, was carried almost to the
pathetic.
1t was q lesson written on Bob's mem
DIV in burning letters, and he never for
got it.